Summer Lovin'
by bsloths
Summary: Sequel to Hockey Girls, Gael Trouble, Hey Baby, and Faulty Relations. Derek and Casey head home to London for their first summer break from university. Multichapter. Dasey.
1. A Farewell to Queen's

Hi, fellow Daseyers!

I was missing our favorite stepcestuous "siblings," and decided I wanted to revisit the world I created for them in _Hockey Girls_ and its sequels (_Gael Trouble_, _Hey Baby_, and _Faulty Relations_). This is a direct sequel to all of those stories, with one major exception: In _Hey Baby_, the newest family member is named either Adam or Amelia, depending on which chapter you read. In _Faulty Relations_, I didn't use the baby's name, but in this fic I'm going to. So I've lined us up better with canon by changing the baby's name to Simon, as we find out it is at the end of _Vacation with Derek_. I was tempted to go back and edit _Hey Baby_ to reflect that, but I decided not to.

Also, assume that Facebook isn't as prevalent in this world as it is in ours. I enjoyed writing their friends' reactions to them dating, and realistically, everyone on Facebook would know about them the minute they changed their relationship status. But where's the fun in that? So you'll see a few of our favorite (and not-so-favorite) high school characters return in this fic. Who's a Dasey shipper and who's not? Place your bets now! (Just kidding.)

This fic is rated T, but thanks to the events of _Faulty Relations_, it might skew closer to M. Just a warning.

And one more thing: SusanMarieR was nice enough to make an ebook version of the _Hockey Girls_ fics up to this point. If you'd like a copy, send her a LiveJournal message. You can find more information about it in my profile.

I think that's all the important stuff. Without further ado, here's Chapter 1. Hope you enjoy jumping back into my _Hockey Girls_ world with me!

-Brandi

Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek, Queen's University, or any characters or settings I reference.

**Chapter 1, Casey: A Farewell to Queen's **

I stare out at the beautiful Queen's campus from our balcony, breathing in the warm spring air and feeling like I'm not ready to leave yet. Not that I can see much of campus, since this is only a third-story apartment, but I can see the quad where Derek and I sometimes have picnics. And the law building, where I spent many hours last semester pouring over the books in their spacious library, studying for my Essentials of Canadian Law seminar. And the road that leads to the Memorial Centre. And the bench where Sarah told me she and Joel were engaged.

Sarah and Joel both graduated this semester. I'll miss Sarah a lot next year; she's become my closest girlfriend at Queen's. But who knows, next year there will be a new crop of HGs and maybe one of them will fill that role.

And there are the girls in Dance Club. After much, much consideration, I finally decided to join Queen's dance team. The competitive team only holds auditions in September, so I'll have to wait until the fall to see if I can join them. Right now, I'm getting back into shape doing the intramural club. I take two lessons a week in modern dance, and the girls I dance with are really sweet and nice. We had our first recital in March, and I was just as nervous as Derek had been his first few weeks of hockey. I know there was no pressure; it was just for fun, but, well, I _do_ like to do well. (I'm aware that this is an understatement.)

Derek was wonderful about it. He kept me sane that week. His hockey playoffs were over, and the Gaels had made a good showing, so he was happy to have the free time to devote to me. (Sounds selfish, I know, but he said it, and I believe him.) I think he was also really pumped about the idea of getting to be _my_ "cheerleader" for a change. To this day he tells anyone who'll listen that his girlfriend's a dancer. I'm still waiting for him to show up with a homemade hoodie, though!

We'd both been so busy up until the recital. With all of the crazy events of the fall, and then us slowly trying to adjust to being a couple, hockey games and practices, me joining the Journal, and soon after, the dance club, Simon being born over winter break, school and all of the stress and homework that went with it …

We were totally ready to shut out the world and have some alone time. And even that got off to a rocky start. I love Derek so much, and now things are so great between us, that I can't believe that I almost threw it all away over one bad night.

That's not to say the last few months have been _easy_. They haven't. We still fight, we still disagree. Sometimes one of us will start to feel like it'd be easier to live together if we weren't _together_. Or that we're too young to be in such a serious relationship.

Can you tell that those worries are mostly me? They are. But Derek's unwavering trust and assurance in the importance of our relationship has made me trust it, too.

It's still scary sometimes. I didn't think it was possible to love somebody as much as I love Derek, and now that I have him, the slightest disturbance makes me feel like we'll be ripped apart.

It's not that I'm insecure. We've talked about the future. We want to get married. _I_ want to marry him someday. But we've put each other through so much, sometimes I can't believe he's still next to me, holding my hand when things get tough.

Which brings me back to the warm spring day on the balcony. We're leaving for London in a little while, and we'll be there until hockey preseason starts in August. Queen's shuts off the water and power in the apartments for the summer unless the tenants are staying on campus. We didn't have any reason to stay, so it was best we moved back home temporarily. We'll be staying in Mom and George's old room in the basement. It will be strange to live back home with our parents, in the house where we grew up together. There are so many memories in that house.

There are a lot of memories in the Kingston apartment, too. I run my fingers along the balcony railing as I stare at the little square of concrete where we made love for the first time on that rain-soaked mattress.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Derek asks as he steps out into the sunlight, squinting at me in concern.

"I'm okay. Just thinking."

Derek comes up to me and places his hand over mine on the railing. "About?"

"I'm happy to be going home. I am. It's just …"

Derek, as usual, knows exactly what I'm trying to say. "We made a lot of memories here in the last year. It's going to be weird adjusting to a new life together." I nod, smiling at him. "But don't forget, it _is_ only three months. We'll be back before we know it."

I sigh. I'm so used to living alone with Derek, where we can do whatever we want, when we want. We're suddenly going to be thrown into a house with six other people. People we love, but people we haven't lived with for the past eight months. It's going to be, well, interesting, to say the least.

I look around at the few plants that are left on the balcony. "What time is it?"

Derek checks his phone. "A little after nine, why?"

"We don't have to pick up Sam until ten. And it won't take long to get these plants and the rest of the luggage into the car …"

Derek catches on to my playful expression immediately. "So what you're saying is, we have almost an hour to kill."

"There are so many things we could do," I say, pretending to think. "We could go down and get one last slice of pizza from the dining hall. We could stop in the Cataraqui Centre one last time."

"Casey." Derek says my name with the hint of a warning tone, though I know he's just playing along. "We will not be alone together for the next ninety-one days. I've counted them. Ninety. One. Ninety-one!" His face contorts as he thinks, again, of the prospect of ninety-one sexless days. I've heard this from him many times, and it never fails to make me laugh at him. So much for 'it _is_ only three months.' He _counted the days_, for crying out loud. It sounds like something I would do. (Okay, so I counted, too. But I'm not panicking about it like he is!)

"I think we need to give this balcony the proper goodbye, don't you?" I tease as I pull him toward the chaise lounge we set up a little closer to the wall of the apartment. It's lower than the railing and out of sight of anyone looking up or down at us. "Hm?"

Derek is too busy pulling off my "I Kissed a Gael and I Liked It" T-shirt to answer.


	2. Brave New World

Get ready for some serious fluff. I mean, really serious. It's so fluffy it's fluffernutter. But it makes me happy, and I hope it makes you happy, too! I promise some actual plot will be coming in the next chapter!

**Chapter 2, Derek: Brave New World **

Ninety-one days. I know, I know, I'm dwelling on it. But really, can you blame me? After being with Casey thirty-six times, I can't just quit cold turkey. It's cruel and unusual punishment, is what it is. And I know it's such a girly thing to do to count the times. But I do. I keep track on a little slip of paper in my wallet. Right next to where I keep my emergency condom. Now, I know you're not supposed to keep it in your wallet because it can break or whatever, but I swear, it's never the same condom in there for more than a week. We use them up that fast. Thank God Casey made friends with health services. They've saved me a fortune.

We talked about the fact that we'll have the basement to ourselves this summer, so really, we _could_. It's just …

Okay. It's weird, but we know for a fact (thank you, Simon), that Nora and my dad had sex in that room. So it's just … not a sexy place.

Besides, with six other people living with us, I feel like the odds are too great that someone will hear, or see, or sense something going on, and I can't scar my siblings like that. As hot as the idea of discoverable sex is, it's not worth the risk. That's what the balcony's for. We get our exhibitionist kicks without any real chance of someone finding out. I'm surprised Casey's into it. But Casey's surprised me a lot with that kind of stuff. She was even the one to initiate our first non-apartment encounter.

We were leaving the library late one night when we noticed the tents were already set up in the quad for the spring carnival starting the next day. Casey pulled me into the closest one and we went at it on one of the tables set up inside. Of course, she felt terrible when she realized that this particular table was being used to sell food, but I found it pretty darn funny, and soon she was laughing along with me.

See what I mean? Such a far cry from danger-averse, play-by-the rules Casey. I'd seen shades of this new Casey on the few occasions she wanted to "live dangerously" in high school, but now? When it's a Casey who likes to sneak into abandoned places to _have sex_? Mind-blowing.

We drop Sam off at his house, and suddenly I'm driving a lot slower. I want to prolong these last few minutes alone with Casey.

"I know what you're doing, and if you get pulled over for going under the speed limit, you're never going to hear the end of it," Casey comments, and I smile ruefully at her. She always knows exactly what I'm thinking.

"Come on, Case. Can we at least pull over to the side of the road—"

"Not in broad daylight, Romeo. _That _kind of police attention would be _much_ more embarrassing." She rolls her eyes at me.

"Fine," I huff, and pick up the speed.

We reach our house and I grab Casey's arm before she gets out of the car. She looks at me questioningly and I pull her in for a heated kiss. She catches me off guard by deepening it, pulling away just as we get into our usual rhythm. She smirks at me and I'm sure I look like she just killed my dog. She pecks me on the lips one more time and giggles, and I follow her out of the car, head spinning a little. Ninety-one days of celibacy I guess I can deal with, but to miss out on more kisses like _that _for three months? Not gonna happen.

Of course, as soon as we open the front door it's utter pandemonium. There's a _Welcome Home!_ banner hung across the living room curtains. Edwin and Marti have plastic horns they're tooting away on, and Lizzie's got cymbals. Nora, Dad, and Simon are yelling and whooping and making all kinds of noises. I'm almost surprised Simon hasn't burst into tears, but he's making screeching sounds with the rest of them. Living in such a busy household got him adjusted to noise pretty quickly.

We say our hellos and for the next few minutes it's all hugs and smiles and chatter and I'm overwhelmed by how much I _miss_ these people. Sure, Casey and I try to come home for the weekend as often as we can, but to be here with them daily for awhile will be great. I haven't realized how excited I am about it until just now.

I don't even pull any kind of anti-affection act because I know no one will buy it anyway. I pick Marti up and spin her around and I'm almost sad that's she's getting too big to lock onto my hip anymore. But that doesn't stop her from crushing me in a breathless hug.

"I'm so, so happy you're here, Smerek," she whispers into my ear.

"Smarti, I hope you planned lots of fun stuff for us to do this summer, because I'm not letting you out of my sight," I whisper back. She beams.

We finally go about the business of bringing in our luggage and dragging it downstairs, and suddenly Casey and I are left alone to unpack. I'm acutely aware of the fact that we can't hear a sound from upstairs. Which means they can't hear us, either. I shake that thought out of my head with the reminder that Nora and Dad once shared this bed. Yeah, that works.

"Good to be back, huh?" Casey asks with a smile.

I shrug. "I wonder what other 'welcome home' activities they're going to subject us to tonight."

Casey shakes her toiletry bag at me. "You know you love it."

"Doesn't mean I have to admit it," I call after her as she heads into the bathroom to arrange her things. Sometimes I still have to maintain a semblance of my old cool-as-a-cucumber persona. If I don't, it's basically me melting into a puddle every time Casey so much as looks at me, and how manly is that?

Nora and Dad did a nice job piecing together furniture for us. Up until today there'd just been the bed and a small, crooked nightstand Edwin built in the woodshop at school. We never needed to stay more than one or two nights. But now, there are two dressers, a full-length mirror, and another small nightstand on the other side of the bed. I throw clothes into my dresser, and debate unpacking Casey's for her so I can see her infuriated reaction when I arrange something wrong. But I decide against it. No reason to make her angry with me right now; it will just get us riled up, and I refuse to give in to my base urges less than an hour after our arrival. That's just pathetic.

Casey emerges from the bathroom and takes in the furniture for the first time. "Aww, that was so sweet of them!"

"Yeah. I took the dresser by the door, is that okay?"

"Sure." She peers into her own dresser, automatically suspicious that I unpacked for her. She wrinkles her nose and points a finger at me as I laugh. "I _know_ you were thinking about it, Venturi," she reprimands.

I love this girl.

We finish unpacking and go upstairs. "I dig the furniture," I tell Nora as my way of thanking her. Nora smiles at me as Casey gives her a hug and a kiss.

"We were happy to do it," she says.

"Edwin made the other nightstand," Dad adds.

I look at Edwin in shock as his cheeks turn red. "Way to go, bro!"

He shrugs off the compliment, clearly enjoying the attention. "Yeah, well, I got better with practice."

Casey ruffles his hair and he grows even redder. "Good job, Ed," she gushes.

"Can we tell them now?" Marti interrupts, clearly impatient.

Nora laughs. "Go ahead, Sweetheart."

"We're taking you to dinner!" Marti cries gleefully. "At the buffet!"

Casey and I exchange impressed glances. "That's so expensive!" she protests. I have half a mind to shush her, but I'm thinking the same thing. We rarely go out to eat as it is, and the buffet restaurant near us is way too pricey for a family our size. But hey, it's a special day, and at least we know Ed and I will eat our money's worth!

"We're happy to do it," Dad insists. "It's in celebration of being together as a family again. We missed you both so much—"

"Last one to the car has to force feed Casey the bacon-wrapped sausage!" I yell, to head off what is sure to be a weepy speech from Dad.

Casey shrieks in consternation as we all race outside, followed more slowly by Nora, who's holding Simon, and Dad, who's shaking his head in mock annoyance.

()()()()()

As Casey and I climb into our bed that night, both stuffed full of the finest fried foods known to man, she lets out a contented sigh.

"Exactly how I feel," I agree, and she snuggles into me. "Emily's coming home tomorrow, right?"

She nods against my chest. "I can't wait to see her."

I can. Emily knows we're a couple; Casey told her over the phone not long after we got together. But she was taking a class at university over winter break, so we haven't seen her in person since last August. I'm hoping it won't be too awkward. Our breakup last summer was completely mutual and drama-free, and Emily even told me that the reason she broke up with me (yes, I can now admit _she_ dumped _me_) was because she knew I was in love with Casey. Thankfully, Emily is a majorly cool chick, and she never mentioned it again. We went back to being friends. But now that I'm actually Casey's boyfriend, I'm not sure how to act around her.

Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

"Yeah, you guys have a lot to catch up on," I say, instead of voicing my concerns. But Casey knows me so well that she can tell exactly what my delay in responding was about.

"She won't be weird around us," she reassures me, reaching over to squeeze my hand. I breathe into her hair and can't help but break into a smile.

"I love you," I say in response. She murmurs it back and I can tell she's starting to drift off, so I lean over to turn off the light glued down onto on Edwin's rickety first nightstand. I hold my breath, and luckily it doesn't collapse, just like it hasn't every time I've done this in the last few months since we moved from the cots in our siblings' rooms to sleeping down in the basement. I've always enjoyed the little element of suspense this action poses right before I go to sleep.

I stretch out my legs and look around the roomy basement, eyes adjusting to the dark. In the Kingston apartment, we sold our beds and bought a bigger one that just barely fits in my room. Casey still keeps her stuff in her bedroom, mostly because it's nice to have our own spaces when we need to study or want alone time or whatever. But both of those bedrooms are _tiny_. I allow myself a second to fantasize about buying a big house where we can sleep in the master bedroom, our kids running in to join us on nights when they have bad dreams or there's a thunderstorm.

_So _sappy, I know. But there's nothing I'd rather think about before nodding off to sleep. I enjoy the feeling of Casey sleeping soundly in my arms and think about how happy I am in this moment, right now. It's good to be Derek Venturi.


	3. Pride and Prejudice

**Chapter 3, Casey: Pride and Prejudice **

"Hiii!" Emily squeals as she opens her front door to Derek and me. We hug tightly and jump a little as Derek folds his arms, acting bored to cover up his nerves. Emily soon moves on to him and I notice he hugs her pretty tightly too, with a big smile on his face. Aww. And he was so worried things would be awkward.

"So … you guys are still together, right?" Emily asks as she leads us through her house to the backyard. She arrived home earlier this morning and invited us over for a pool party with our high school friends.

"Of course," I tell her, glancing at Derek. He seems to have calmed down completely.

"I'm so happy you guys finally got together. It makes things so much easier. I seriously thought it was never going to happen, and we'd all be miserable watching you fight all summer."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Em," Derek pipes up.

She smiles, opening the door for us as we head into the yard. "I honestly think you should be thanking Sam. I mean, without him there to keep an eye on you two, who knows where we'd be?"

I laugh. I missed her fast, bubbly way of talking, like everything's super exciting. It's a contagious attitude.

"Oh, so before I forget, here's the scoop," she continues. "You know Ralph and Sam are in town, obviously. Kendra came home yesterday, so I invited her tonight. Noel's coming home in a couple of weeks after some summer class thing. I haven't heard anything about Max. Trevor's staying in Regina with his cousins for the summer. Tinker's doing a year abroad in England, and Amanda's leaving for the Bahamas tomorrow, so she couldn't come over. Ralph didn't get to see her before she left, but he doesn't seem too upset. They ended things on good terms last year."

Emily stops to take a breath, so I jump in. "I'm always impressed with your research, Dr. Em!"

"I have good sources. Oh! I forgot about Truman."

My stomach turns over, and I see Derek clenching his fists beside me. I reach a hand over to his and squeeze it. Even hearing that name sets Derek on edge.

"He's got an internship in New York, and he won't be back all summer." Emily eyes us carefully, waiting for our reaction.

Derek and I let out a long breath at the same time. I don't know what I would have done if he was in town. I never want to see that creep again as long as I live, and I know Derek and Emily feel the same way.

Emily stares at us with a hint of wonder on her face. "Aww, you guys." She looks down at our still-intertwined hands. "I have to be honest. I thought it might be weird to see you two together, but it's really not. You're so cute together!"

"We are not _cute_!" Derek complains as I drag both of them toward the pool, Emily and me laughing at him all the way.

()()()()()

Sam and Ralph arrive a little while later, and we have a nice time catching up, playing in the pool and then relaxing on the deck. I keep noticing Emily and Ralph exchange these little bemused glances, and it's driving me crazy. I finally decide to call them on it.

"All right, what is up with all the looks? Is something going on?"

"What are you talking about?" Ralph asks.

"You and Emily are looking at each other like you have a secret."

Derek sits up straighter on the lounge chair we're sharing. "Hey, you know, Casey's right. I noticed it, too."

Sam turns a laugh into a coughing fit. We all look over at him. "I guess I'm kind of immune to it by now, seeing them at school so much," he says.

"Immune to what?" I cry, shaking my head in frustration.

Emily clears her throat. "Well, Ralph and I haven't really been around you two as a couple. This is the first time we're seeing you together."

"You said earlier it wasn't weird for you," Derek whines. "Make up your mind, woman!"

"Dude, look at your arm," Ralph points out, as Emily sticks her tongue out at Derek good-naturedly.

We both look at his arm, which is currently draped around my shoulders. "So?" Derek asks. But I'm beginning to get it.

"And Casey's right hand," Emily adds. It's resting on Derek's thigh, but I don't pull it away.

"You can't keep your hands off each other," Sam explains gently. Derek and I look at each other and share a smile. I guess it's become so second nature to us around our university friends that we didn't think about the fact that it'd be a little unsettling for Emily and Ralph to witness.

"We don't mind, do we, Ralphie?" Emily asks.

"Nah. It's cute." Ralph beams at us.

Derek throws his head back with a groan. "Stop calling us cute!"

"You're not fooling anyone, Der," I say as I kiss him quickly on the lips.

Emily, Sam, and Ralph say "Awwww," in unison.

"What in the hell?"

We swivel our heads in the direction of the new speaker, and none other than Kendra Mason is standing just outside Emily's back door, looking from Derek to me in utter shock. Her expression quickly turns to revulsion and I tense up. I wasn't sure how Kendra would react, but I'd hoped she'd take it well.

Derek is even tenser next to me. "H-hi, Ken," he greets her, trying to smile.

Kendra holds up a hand and stares around at our little group, her eyebrows furrowed and nose scrunched. "I just saw you kissing Casey," she addresses Derek.

Out of the corner of my eye I see that my friends are trying not to laugh. Real supportive! Derek turns pale, but he holds his own against the intense, whirlwind presence striding toward us.

She stops in front of us and stamps her foot, dropping her tote bag to the ground and placing her hands on her hips. "Don't make me say it again," she hisses, glaring at both of us now.

Derek clutches my shoulder tighter and runs a hand through my hair. I try not to enjoy the possessive gesture, but I can't help liking it. "I was kissing Casey because she's my girlfriend, Kendra."

"What?" Kendra's shriek probably shatters all of the glass in Emily's windows, and my house's, too.

"It's true," I add. "We've been dating since we got to university." Technically true, but she doesn't need details right now. She needs to not murder us with her eyes, because that's what it's feeling like.

"Did your parents get divorced?" she asks.

"Uh, no," Derek replies, making a face.

"So you're still … brother and sister?" Kendra's eyes are still flashing, but she's starting to come around; I can tell.

"No, and we never were. You know that." Derek grins at her.

"You're … dating?"

We both nod, and Emily, Ralph, and Sam are still stifling giggles. I guess I can't blame them for thinking this is funny. They don't realize that we'll have to face this kind of harassment all our lives. People at Queen's have mostly not cared, but we've met a few people who think we're gross. We figure we wouldn't want to be friends with those people, anyway. That's why I really, really hope Kendra decides to be okay with this.

Kendra comes over and takes the only empty lawn chair, gradually lowering herself into it as she stares at us. We watch her carefully, and she finally sighs. "Well, there goes my idea of a little summer fling with Derry," she mumbles, and Derek lets out a whoop of relief. I clasp my hands together happily, and she gives us a small smile. "How did this _happen_?"

We launch into our story, and Sam fills in where he can. Emily and Ralph have heard it before over the phone and email, but they listen attentively anyway. When I get to the part about Derek thinking I was about to move out, he of course tries to play it off like he wasn't worried. But Kendra's the one to jump in and say, "Oh, please, I completely believe Casey on this one. You are so obviously whipped. I can't believe I didn't see it in high school."

"Don't worry, I didn't see it, either," Ralph agrees, and I notice Emily and Sam lock eyes and smile. Sometimes it makes me feel really stupid that our two best friends knew about our feelings before we did. Or at least, before _I_ did.

When we finish the story, Kendra actually applauds us. "That is so amazing," she gushes. "You can't stop true love." She looks a little misty-eyed, and as always, I appreciate our shared flair for the dramatic. Apparently any reservations she has about us are over with.

Emily taps on her plastic cup of soda, which doesn't actually make much noise, but it gets our attention. "I actually have a story, too. I wanted to wait until you were all here to tell you the good news."

I'm instantly wracking my brain trying to think of something exciting she's told me recently. But from the way she's smiling, this seems like it'll be news to me, too.

"I was fooling around on Facebook one day when I decided to look up Sheldon. We started messaging back and forth, and then it turned into emails and phone calls. We're, uh, well, I guess you could say we're back together." Emily looks around at all of us warily, as if anyone would take this as anything but good news!

"Oh, Em!" I jump up and run over to give her a hug, and she gets pats on the back from the boys and a hug from Kendra, too.

"Wait, you mean Sheldon _Shlepper_, right?" Ralph asks, always a little behind.

"Yes," Emily explains, and Ralph high-fives her.

"This is so great!" I exclaim.

"It gets better," Emily continues. "He's transferring to U of T this fall," she turns to Ralph, "so we'll be at the same school." Ralph gets it right away this time and there are more exclamations of happiness for Emily. She looks down at her feet shyly. "I'm a little nervous. We haven't seen each other since he moved away."

"Are you kidding? He was so in love with you. It'll be like you were never apart," Sam says, and I smile at him gratefully. I couldn't have said it better myself.

"We _have_ been videochatting," she admits. "And he seems like the same Sheldon, just older."

"I would hope so. That's one guy who should never change," Derek says. I know Derek always liked him, but it surprises me that he would say something so nice about him. "I mean, there are only like, three pan flute players left in the world. It'd be a shame if they lost a member." Ah, there it is.

"Der-ek," I groan. I smack him playfully on the knee and the way he looks at me I can tell it would have turned into a tickle fight if we were alone (okay, it would _start_ as a tickle fight and end as something else entirely). He looks at me longingly for a second, and I know he's thinking the same thing.

"Ninety days," I mouth at him. He looks taken aback for a second that I would say it out loud, and then he recovers and winks.

The others are still talking to Emily about Sheldon, so I refocus on my best friend. She's _so_ happy. I settle back against Derek in the lounge chair and look around at my friends. It's nice to be home!


	4. The Age of Innocence

As you can probably tell by now, this fic is one long parade of fluff with teeny-tiny bits of angst thrown in (more so in later chapters). This chapter's fluffy theme: Derek and Simon. Hope you like!

**Chapter 4, Derek: The Age of Innocence **

It's June already. Casey and I both start work today, her at Sir John Sparrow Day Camp, me back at Smelly Nelly's. We'll both work all of June and July, but have off in August because we'll go visit Gran at the lodge before heading back to Queen's. I'm happy to have a job again, but the schedule sucks—I'm pretty much only going to see Casey on weekends because she works days and I work nights.

But I have to deal. There are seventy-seven days left until we're really alone again, but I've spent every night watching movies with her on my laptop in our basement bedroom, and I gotta say, that's not so bad.

I've spent most days with Marti, taking her shopping or to the park or public pool. Sometimes Liz, Ed, and Casey (or some combination of those three) tag along. I've also seen a lot of Sam and Ralph, and Casey spends time with Emily. We've done a few things with the whole family, too, since Dad and Nora both took off work this past week. We went on a pretty sweet water park trip where Edwin's bathing suit fell off on the water slide (I'm still laughing). We've even had time to hang out with our whole group of friends, including Kendra, who's started teasing us about having a threesome and making kissy faces whenever I so much as mention Casey's name. I was about to take her up on that threesome idea, but Casey shoved me so hard it knocked the wind out of me. Can't blame a guy for trying.

I'm kidding.

I think.

"I'll be back around five," Casey says as she kisses me goodbye. I groan into my cereal. That leaves about a half hour of seeing her before I leave for Smelly Nelly's tonight.

"Have fun," I tell her with a wave, and the rest of the family grunts their goodbyes as they shuffle in for breakfast. Soon Nora and Dad are leaving for work, and I'm left alone with the rugrats.

"So, how much do I have to pay to get out of this babysitting gig?" I ask my siblings.

Lizzie arches an eyebrow at me. "Uh, there is no 'gig.' Edwin and I have been babysitting Simon since he was born, and Marti's our special helper. You can do whatever you want."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. He goes to daycare while we're in school, but when we're home, he's our responsibility," Edwin agrees.

"And you're okay with Nora and Dad making you do this?" I wrinkle my nose, trying to picture Edwin changing diapers and singing lullabies. Does not compute.

"We _like_ taking care of Simon, Smerek." Marti puts her cereal bowl in the sink and joins the conversation. "He's our brother. He still goes to daycare three times a week, but we get him on Mondays, and Nora's home with us on Fridays, so we watch him while she does chores." She turns to Lizzie. "You ready for the wake-up?"

"The what now?" I ask as I follow the kids upstairs. No one answers me.

Simon is standing up holding onto the bars of his crib when we enter his room, and he's all smiles and happy baby gurgles.

"Good morning, Simon," Lizzie coos as she lifts him out of his crib and lays him on the changing table.

"Diaper," she commands, and Marti echoes "diaper" back to her as she hands Lizzie a clean one. Then she commands a wipe from Edwin, who recites "wipe" and hands it to her. I try not to watch what Lizzie's actually doing, but to be honest, it's kinda fascinating. Who knew changing a diaper was that easy?

"Give 'im a squirt, Smarti," Lizzie issues her final command, and before I can ask what _that_ means, Marti shakes a little baby powder on him.

"See? Piece of cake." Edwin nudges me and I nod, still watching the proceedings carefully.

After he's changed, everyone troops downstairs and Edwin heats up a bottle while Marti and Lizzie strap Simon into his high chair.

"You gonna just stand there?" Lizzie asks as I try to follow what Edwin's doing with the bottle. "If you want to help, get the baby food from the refrigerator."

I don't even have a comeback for her. This is kinda fun, so I'm not going to complain. I hand her a jar of pureed bananas and she shows me how to mix the bananas with some of the formula from the bottle in a little bowl. I watch Edwin scoop up the mixture onto a baby spoon and hover it near Simon's mouth. Simon leans forward and gleefully sucks on the spoon, and I start to feel a real wave of affection for the little guy. I've been around him, of course. But it's always for two days at a time when Nora does everything for him. I've held him a few times, but honestly I'm not really comfortable with him yet. It might be fun to get to bond with my new brother this summer.

()()()()()

Five hours later, I'm exhausted. And Lizzie and Edwin have done most of the work! We finished feeding him, and then Edwin burped him, and then he had to be changed again, and then we took him for a walk around the backyard (the kids aren't allowed to leave the house when they're alone with Simon, and I don't think I'm ready for a playground trip yet, either), and then we played with him on his play mat that has all kinds of mobiles and shapes and colors to touch, and then Marti read to him, and then he needed to be fed and changed and burped and changed and changed again.

_Finally_, he's down for a nap, and I'm about to pass out on the couch.

"Don't get too comfortable, Derek. He only sleeps for about an hour," Lizzie tells me before I nod off.

I pretend not to hear her. Maybe today he'll sleep for three.

()()()()()

No such luck, of course.

The kids are still doing the major stuff, but I think I can work my way up to feeding him by the end of the summer. Right now he's on my lap and we're looking at this book that's all pictures. Marti says I'm supposed to tell him what each of the pictures are and make up a story about them. Casey would be so good at this. I'm not that creative.

I'm in the middle of a story about the hockey-playing giraffe on page six when Casey bounces in, hair matted and a little sweaty, but looking very happy.

We lock eyes and smile, and I can tell the sight of me with Simon is making her swoon. Sure enough, she's clasping her hands together and making squealing noises, and I open my eyes wide and shake my head.

"Casey, he may look sweet and innocent, but trust me—"

"Oh, be quiet," she shushes me as she joins us on the couch. "I know we're not having kids for a long time. But seeing you like this with him …" she beams. "It's just nice."

"Well, you can see how well my day went. How was yours?"

She launches into the story of her day, which unlike the last time she was a counselor, actually went well. She has a great group of kids this year, and Marti will join her the same days Simon has daycare. I notice that Simon is listening to her intently; his little fists are curled around my fingers and he's watching Casey like she's the most wonderful thing he's ever seen.

Yeah, buddy, I can relate.


	5. The Call of the Wild

Can any readers from Canada tell me if Ontario residents use the 24-hour clock? I've looked it up and can't find an answer. I made an assumption about that at the end of this chapter and it might be wrong, so forgive me if it is.

Either way, this chapter was fun to write, so I hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 5, Casey: The Call of the Wild **

After five days of Day Camp, I'm definitely ready for the weekend. Derek and I both sleep in on Saturday, so before I know it he's off to work and I'm still lounging at home.

It's nice spending time with the family, and I have dinner with them, but I decide to surprise Derek by having dessert at Smelly Nelly's. Lizzie asks to come along, and of course I agree. The two of us haven't had much sister time in a while.

"He's going to be so happy to see you," Lizzie says as we climb into George's car. I make a mental note to start driving Derek to work more often so I can do things like this using my (our) own car.

"I think so, too. It's silly, but we really do miss each other when we're apart even for a few hours."

Lizzie shrugs good-naturedly. "I'm not even going to pretend to understand you two."

I smile over at her. "So what's new with you?"

Lizzie shrugs again. "Honestly, not much."

"No boy news?" I can see her squirm out of the corner of my eye, so that of course means _yes_.

"Um, there's something I have to tell you."

My chest tightens as I wonder what it could be. Good? Bad? It's a struggle to stay nonchalant. "Oh, really?"

"I, um, wanted to come with you to Smelly Nelly's tonight to point someone out to you. I need your opinion on one of the waiters." She grins over at me.

I bite my lip, trying to keep from giggling. It's still such a strange concept that Lizard is going into grade ten—so of course she'd be interacting with high school guys. Guys old enough to have jobs. I shudder inwardly at the thought. _So_ weird. "I'd be happy to scope him out with you."

When we get inside, I can tell who she's talking about right away. There's a majorly cute guy at the counter who looks about sixteen, and his name tag says "Ricky." I try to think. I'm pretty sure this is the "new guy" Derek's mentioned when talking about work, and from what he says, Ricky is pretty great. I wonder if he'll keep saying that when he finds out Lizzie has a crush on him!

I give Lizzie a discreet thumb's up and she beams. I find us a booth, trying not to be too obvious about the fact that I'm watching her like a hawk.

"Hi Ricky," she says shyly, approaching the counter.

"Lizzie!" Ricky positively lights up at the sight of her. Good sign!

"I'm here to have dessert with my sister. What's good tonight?" Lizzie sounds strong and confident now. She's much better at talking to guys than I ever was. I'm so glad I never have to worry about that ever again!

Speaking of Derek, he comes up behind me and slips a hand behind my neck as he kisses me hello. "Der!" I hiss when we break apart. "Don't get in trouble!"

Derek shakes his head at me. "Case, look around. It's just Ricky and me tonight."

I look, and he's right. The restaurant is dotted with people still dining, but it's not too crowded. Figures Derek would step right back into a management position—they love him here.

He slides into the booth across from me and jabs a thumb at Lizzie and Ricky. "Please tell me there's nothing going on there." He rolls his eyes.

"There's nothing going on there … _yet_," I reply.

"He's too old for her," Derek says firmly, and I give him a hard look.

"Don't do this. She's fifteen, Derek. You remember being fifteen, right?"

Derek stares at me in disbelief. "Yes, I _do_. And I remember being seventeen, which is what Ricky is." His eyebrows shoot up when I refuse to react. "Ricky has a _car_, Casey."

I grab his hands, trying not to laugh. "And Lizzie has a good head on her shoulders, so quit worrying."

Derek makes a face, but he doesn't say anything more about it. I have a feeling this isn't the end of the conversation, but I'm not about to ruin Lizzie's night. She's on her way over here.

Derek jumps up, says hi to Lizzie, and gives me another kiss before heading back to work.

"Whoa," I hear as we pull away, and we both look up to see former head cheerleader Amy staring at us from the entranceway, mouth agape. Apparently, we've got to stop kissing in public, because people keep catching us!

I glance up at Derek, who doesn't look the least bit fazed. "Hey Amy," he says lazily, waving as Amy continues to stare at him, then me, then him again. He bends down toward me and whispers, "I don't really care what she thinks, do you?" I shake my head, realizing I agree with him. He kisses me one more time and then returns to the kitchen.

I force myself not to look at Amy as I turn to Lizzie, who just sat down. She giggles behind her hand, and I can't help but do the same. "She still here?" I mouth at Lizzie, and Lizzie, who's facing the counter, nods.

"She's ordering something from Ricky."

We start talking, and to be honest I almost forget about her. Then, out of nowhere, she plops down next to Lizzie in our booth and glares at me. "You've officially stolen two of my boyfriends now, McDonald." She arches her eyebrows.

Lizzie gawks at her as I fidget, not sure how to handle her. Why isn't Derek back from the kitchen yet? She's still staring me down.

"Amy, I—" I'm about to say something stupid like, "I'm sorry." But she cuts me off.

"I'm just kidding!" She cackles and cuffs me on the shoulder. "You should have seen your face! So when did this happen?"

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Back in the fall. We're living together at university, and—"

She cuts me off again. "This is so great!"

I sit back, confused. It's strange that she's being nice, but it's even stranger that she doesn't seem the least bit surprised. She and Lizzie are introducing themselves when Derek reappears, putting a protective arm around me as he leans against our booth.

Amy looks up, grinning at him. "I'm so happy for you guys! What took you so long, Venturi?"

"You knew?" I blurt out. Derek and I talk about everything, but we definitely haven't talked about _this_!

Derek clears his throat, buying time, and he and Amy exchange sheepish smiles. Lizzie's taking it all in, fascinated.

"Oh," Amy turns to me, "he never told you the reason we broke up? The boy is positively obsessed with you. It's a shame, because we could have been great friends. But between Max and this one here," she smiles fondly at Derek, "it wasn't meant to be. You two, on the other hand, totally are."

She doesn't give any of us time to respond before she's up and bouncing away, calling, "Good to see you both! Have a nice summer!" She picks up her container of food that's sitting on the counter and waltzes out the door.

I'm still staring after her in confusion as Lizzie and Derek are laughing hysterically. There's no bad blood between us. After I quit cheerleading I never really saw her until graduation, and even then we gave each other an awkward hug and exchanged "good lucks" before moving on. As far as I knew, it was the same with her and Derek. So why was she acting like she and Derek have this special bond?

Derek sees the increasingly agitated look on my face and scoots into the booth next to me. "Look, don't get upset."

"I'm not upset. Why would I be upset?" I fail to keep my voice level and Derek smirks. I shove him lightly. "This isn't funny. Why were you acting like this was one big inside joke?"

"Um, because it kinda was."

Lizzie and I both stare at him, waiting for him to elaborate. He groans.

"Okay, okay. Here's the deal. I went after Amy because after watching you at the cheerleading tryouts, I needed," he glances at Lizzie and reddens a little. "I needed, um … "

Lizzie rolls her eyes. "Watching Casey turned you on, so you pounced on the first cheerleader you saw," she says.

"Lizzie!" Derek looks scandalized, and I'm blushing now, too.

"Derek, I'm not ten anymore," she says, eyes sparkling mischievously. "Go on, will ya?"

Derek harrumphs, but he goes on with his story. "Amy was a good distraction, and I really had always wanted to date a cheerleader. But we only went out for a week, and every single time we saw each other, all we talked about was Casey."

I start to protest, but Derek holds up a hand. "I swear it's true. Amy was furious at you for trying out and that the other girls liked you, and I used her to complain about all the crazy things you did. So talking about you was really the only thing we had in common. The day I decided to break up with her, because she literally would not shut up about how awful you were, she beat me to it by saying she wanted to dump _me_ because _I _talked about you too much. I admitted I was about to dump her for the same reason, and we had a good laugh. She said if I was really that into you, I should say something, but of course I didn't listen to her. Besides, in my defense, you were with Max at the time."

I shake my head in disbelief. Derek is always full of surprises, even after knowing him for so long. "I didn't see that coming."

"How many other girlfriends did you torture with Casey talk?" Lizzie asks.

Derek smiles. "Oh, I learned my lesson after Amy. I couldn't risk anyone else suspecting anything."

"You didn't do a very good job, because the more people who find out about us, it seems like the more people knew all along," I scoff.

"Hey, at least everyone's been happy for us so far."

I nod in agreement, and Derek has to leave when a customer at another booth calls him over.

"So that's how the reaction usually goes?" Lizzie asks.

I shrug. "There is no usual. I told you about Kendra screaming, right?"

Lizzie's eyes widen. "No!"

I tell her about that day at Emily's house, and soon we're eating our desserts and talking about her crush on Ricky. They haven't gone out yet, but I can tell it's only a matter of time.

()()()()()

When Lizzie and I get home, I leave a note for Derek and head out to the backyard. I'm looking forward to relaxing in the hammock and doing some stargazing until he joins me outside.

In no time at all, I feel the hammock shift and the cool summer breeze blows the enticing smell of his aftershave right past my nose. He climbs in and settles behind me so we're spooning.

"You're okay about the Amy thing, right?" he asks in greeting, kissing my cheek.

I nod, my hair rustling against the orange canvas. "Of course. Her reaction was surprising, but it makes me feel good, too. So many people tell us we're meant to be together, or some variation of that."

"Yeah."

He's quiet for a moment, and I listen to our breathing become synchronized. I pull the blanket up around both of us. "You think we should get a hammock on our balcony?" I ask, knowing I'm probably being too mean but wanting to tease him anyway. "This thing's pretty sturdy. It could probably hold us if we're careful."

"You're evil," Derek growls. I giggle as he chants "seventy-two days" into my neck.

"Come on, you know the idea was already in your head."

"Actually," I feel him smirking, "I was enjoying a quiet moment looking at the stars with my girlfriend. You're the one who turned it into an innuendo."

"Oooh, big word," I coo, and he's tickling me until I'm breathless from giggling. "We'll … wake … them …" I choke out.

"Nah, everyone's asleep. There weren't any lights on when I came home." He raises his eyebrows at me.

I mull it over. A few minutes of kissing on the hammock won't make any noise, and it's not like it'd be embarrassing if someone caught us—they've seen us kiss a million times before.

Of course, it doesn't stay that innocent, and I try to care, I really do, but Derek's already shifted on top of me and he's kissing along my jaw line and his hand's reaching for the bottom of my shirt. I still have the presence of mind to push his hand away, so he reaches behind me to rub at my back instead as his mouth meets mine.

The hammock swings lightly as we shift, and I try my best to ignore the ache that started building as soon as our bodies met. "We have to stop," I murmur as we take a breather, and Derek looks down at me questioningly. "Okay, not yet," I agree, and we smile at each other as his mouth captures mine again.

()()()()()

We tiptoe back toward the house, trading small, soft kisses back and forth as we walk. It wasn't exactly any kind of release, but making out is going to have to hold us over for now.

As we turn the doorknob, we realize at the same time that the kitchen light is on. Mom is standing at the sink, filling the teakettle with water.

"Mom!" I squeak, and she looks up and gives us a cautious smile.

"Hi, kids." She sounds tired. Maybe she didn't see anything.

"Good night, Nora," Derek says, leading me toward the basement door. I know exactly what he's thinking—Derek's strategy is always evade, deny, and lie.

"I wouldn't make a habit of that," Mom says, her back to us as she sets the kettle on the stove.

I freeze, blushing scarlet. Derek lets out a barely audible whimper. He's such a baby.

"You, uh, you saw us on the hammock?" I blurt, and Derek's making crazy faces at me, obviously wishing I would shut up already. But I refuse to be weird about this with my mom. Yeah, it's awkward, but she knows how close Derek and I are. It's not exactly a secret.

"From Marti's room as I was checking on her upstairs. Luckily, she was already in bed, and I closed the curtains pretty quickly."

We were worried about someone walking outside and seeing us. Neither one of us had even considered the vantage point from inside the house! I suddenly knew without a doubt that we'd made the right decision in abstaining for the summer.

"Mom, I'm so sorry," I tell her, and Derek, the coward, is inching toward the basement door. I grab his hand to stop him, giving him a pleading look. He sighs.

"Yeah, Nora, we weren't thinking. Won't happen again." He looks at me as if to say, "Happy?" and I nod. He says good night and speeds downstairs.

Mom gives me a long look. "You have your own bedroom, two floors away from everyone else."

My cheeks are still burning. "I know. You're right, it was stupid. But we didn't let it get … out of hand."

Mom crosses her arms, but her expression is soft. "I would hope not."

Now I'm not sure what to do. I want to hug her, but that doesn't seem appropriate.

She sighs. "We're all adjusting to this, you know. We're happy to have you home, but you have to understand, it _is_ still a little strange for us to see you be so affectionate after years of hostility. We've only seen you in short bursts of time for so long now that seeing your day-to-day interactions is brand new for us."

I'm taken aback at that. She's right—we never really pay much attention to our family's reactions to us. We love that we can be ourselves around them, but maybe we've crossed some lines we shouldn't have without even realizing it.

"Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather see him kiss you goodbye every morning than dump cereal on your head," Mom says, and I let out a nervous laugh.

"We'll dial down the PDA a little."

Mom nods. "I don't want you to feel like you have to hide anything, but …"

"… we'll keep our tongues to ourselves," I finish for her, before I realize that that's not the best thing to say to my _mother_.

It's Mom's turn to chuckle. "That's such a Derek thing to say."

I decide I want that hug now. "I love you," I tell her, squeezing her tight.

"I love you, too, Casey," she says as she hugs me back. "And I'm so proud of you. You've accomplished a lot this past year, what with adjusting to university, keeping your grades up, the dance team, the newspaper … and you and Derek are handling your relationship with such maturity. It's truly been a joy to watch you fall deeper in love." She's getting a little misty-eyed, and I'm choked up, too. We hug one more time, and then I go downstairs and leave Mom to her tea.

As I enter our bedroom, Derek holds up a hand in a "stop" gesture. He's watching the clock intently, and as it clicks from 11:59 to midnight, he calls out, "Seventy-one days!"


	6. Demily Revisited

**Chapter 6, Derek: Demily Revisited **

I'm not really sure whose idea it was to get D-Rock back together, but I'll gladly take the credit. Emily mentioned that Sheldon wanted to "see" all of us, so we set up a time to videochat one Sunday. Somehow, that turned into a D-Rock rehearsal. Sam and Ralph are currently raiding the fridge, Casey is practicing scales upstairs, and Emily is freaking out over her laptop battery dying.

"Emily." I put a hand on her shoulder as she looks up from the couch, clearly panicked. "Go next door, get your cable, and plug it in."

She looks at me blankly. "Oh. Yeah. The cable." She gets up and races out the door, muttering to herself.

I rub my eyes. I can appreciate that Emily is anxious about all of us seeing Sheldon after so long. But really, what does she think is going to happen? That he'll break up with her if the chat cuts out? That we'll all turn on him because he moved away? She's acting like Casey, and not in a good way. Speaking of the drama queen …

"Where's Em?" Casey asks as she comes down the stairs. I take a moment to admire the view as she walks, and get rewarded for my leer with a light shove on the shoulder once she reaches the landing.

"Hey! No assaulting the lead singer!" Sam calls from the kitchen as he and Ralph emerge, loaded down with snacks.

"She ran home to get her laptop cable," I answer Casey. "She's terrified her battery is going to die, or something stupid like that."

Casey glares at me, and I try not to flinch. "Have a little compassion, Derek. Sheldon's the love of her life, and she just wants things to go well."

"Since when?" I scoff. Shlepper, really? He's a cool guy and all, but he doesn't seem like anyone's soul mate.

"Since forever. She just doesn't know it yet." Casey gives me a mischievous grin and I can't help but grin back.

Ralph and Sam start ripping into the snacks. I join them, and by the time we've all stuffed our faces, Emily is back and hooking up the laptop on the coffee table.

"Okay you guys, are you sure you want to do this?" she asks.

"Yes!" we all chorus, and that startles her into action.

She clicks on the chat and suddenly there he is, smiling out at us. He looks exactly the same, just a little older. He's looking at Emily like she's the most beautiful thing in the universe—and suddenly I get it. Casey just wants for Emily what we have, and judging by the way Emily's beaming back at him, their reunion is a very, very good thing.

"Hi," Emily breathes, and it's obvious that seeing him again hasn't lost its thrill yet.

"Hey, Em." Sheldon waves. "Hi everyone." He peers around at all of us as we squish next to Emily on the couch.

"Good to see you, man," Ralph greets him for all of us, and we sit there smiling like idiots for way too long. I know _I_ don't know what to say.

"So, um, how are you?" Casey asks.

Sheldon chuckles as he turns to her. "Hi, Casey. I'm good. Much better now that I can do stuff like this again. I actually really missed D-Rock."

"I bet the musicians at your new high school all sucked," I add. Casey's finger digs into my side, but I ignore her. She tries her best to make me a gentleman, but to her annoyance I just can't be pinned down that way.

"You know, they really did," Sheldon says, laughing again. "Not a single Billy Joel fan in the bunch."

"Those heathens," Sam remarks, and he and Sheldon snicker together.

This is getting easier, and I decide to have a little fun. "You do realize that Emily's been absolutely unbearable to be around these days, right?" I ask him, and he eyes me, wondering where I'm going with this. "I mean, now it's constantly, Sheldon _this_ and Sheldon _that_, and 'when we're both in Toronto, Sheldon and I are going to …'" Emily is squealing at me and smacking me with a pillow, and everyone else is laughing at her, so I trail off, grinning.

Sheldon, being the same old Sheldon, turns bright red and stutters, "Uh, are you kidding, because if I'm really causing problems …"

That just makes everyone laugh harder, and now Emily is covering her face with the pillow.

Casey recovers first and puts an arm around Emily. "Sheldon, Derek's kidding." She shoots me a smile. "We couldn't be happier that you two are back together."

"Yeah, man," Sam chimes in. "You guys are gonna take Toronto by storm this fall."

Sheldon's face reddens again, this time for being so gullible. "Oh. I'm glad you approve."

Ralph shakes his head. "Dude, we haven't changed that much. Derek will still mess with you every chance he gets."

"I should have known." He glances at me. "Um, speaking of Derek. Can we take the focus off of Em and me for a second and talk about the elephant in the room?"

"What elephant?" Ralph looks around, confused. We ignore him.

I swallow. I didn't really want to have this conversation in front of everyone. I don't know how much Emily's told him about our relationship, and I'm kinda hoping she totally downplayed it, making it seem like fling. Which it was. It ended in friendship, and there was some kissing in between, but that was it.

"Look, Sheldon, you were gone and it just sort of happened. But I promise you, there's nothing between us anymore. Emily and I only ever kissed, that's it." Emily finally takes the pillow away from her face and looks at me with wide, panicked eyes. She shakes her head vigorously while trying to tell me _something_, but I can't figure out what.

Sheldon's face falls. "Wait … what?"

I look from him to Emily. Emily hisses, "I didn't tell him about us."

Everyone is dead silent, and I feel like an idiot.

Sheldon says slowly, "You … and Emily?"

"What other elephant in the room could you have possibly meant?" I ask weakly.

Sheldon is quiet for a moment, and then breaks into a grin. "You know what, I don't even care. I believe you when you say it's over, and I know she liked you for a long time, so good for you guys that you tried dating. I'm assuming this happened last year?"

"Yeah …" I confirm, not sure why that matters.

"Emily can fill me in later." His eyes dart to hers and she nods so hard the couch bounces up and down with her, "but I was actually talking about Derek and _Casey_."

"Ohhh," I gasp. Now I understand why Emily was so jumpy earlier. Trying to bring someone back into your inner circle is really awkward!

Casey keeps her arm around Emily and smiles, eyes bright. "It's true, Sheldon. He finally drove me so crazy that I fell in love with him. Have I lost my mind or what?"

I groan. Casey can be so _cheesy_. But of course, I secretly love it.

Sheldon's much more comfortable being a sap in public. "It's so romantic. Emily told me how it happened. I can't believe he had you pretending to be his girlfriend!"

"Hey now, wait a minute!" I cry, not sure I want to be painted the bad guy so soon after making a fool of myself.

"Oh, don't worry, Derek," Sheldon says, turning to me. "If I had the guts, I would have done the same thing in your situation."

"I think moving to Toronto is pretty gutsy," Casey says, and we all murmur our agreement as Sheldon blushes and Emily squirms with happiness.

()()()()()

After catching up a little more, we finally get around to playing some music. We hook up the laptop to my biggest speaker, and Sheldon's keyboard skills have definitely gotten even better. Emily films us with her video camera as we rock out, playing all of our old favorites. I have to admit, it's pretty fun, and we agree to have another videochat jam session before the summer's over.

Our friends leave, and Casey and I are left alone in the empty house for all of five seconds before the rest of the family comes bursting in the door, back from a day at the lake.

I'm not disappointed by the interruption, not really, because Casey and I are spending the entire night home alone together … with Simon. Nora and Dad have a dinner with one of his clients, Ed and Liz have a birthday party, and Marti's going to a sleepover. Dad asked if we'd be interested in sitting for Simon. I deferred to Casey on that one. It's been a few weeks of me helping take care of Simon during the day, and I know there's no way I'd want to be alone with him yet. But with Casey, I can do anything. (I know, I know, now _I'm_ being cheesy.) She said we'd love to, and now here we are.

As soon as the door shuts behind them, Casey turns to look at me, Simon on her hip. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do we do now?" She bites her lip, looking worried, and I try not to fly off the handle.

"Casey, I thought you said you could do this! You've babysat before! You're supposed to know this stuff!"

A wicked smirk plays across her face and I stop mid-freakout. "Woman, you are _evil_."

"I know." She keeps smirking at me, and Simon stuffs his fist into his mouth, gurgling.

"Dinner?" I ask, trying to sound confident, and she nods.

"Dinner."

I make up the bottle, trying to remember all of the steps Lizzie and Edwin take. Casey looks impressed when I test it on my wrist and deem it suitable for Simon.

She finishes heating up some leftovers for us and I strap Simon into his high chair.

I check Nora's list to see what foods he's supposed to have. There are about ten foods on the list and most of them start with "pureed." He's been eating solid food like that for awhile, but he still gets a bottle. I just can't remember what he's supposed to have for dinner, since I'm usually at work when the family eats. "How do we know what to give him?"

"Let's give him the bottle, and then see if he seems hungry enough for more after that, and he usually is. I think that's what Mom does."

We sit around the table, Casey feeding Simon and looking like she couldn't be happier. I watch them for a few minutes, and then she realizes what I'm doing.

"Stop staring! You're making me nervous!"

"You're doing fine, Case."

"Still. I'm not as big a baby expert as you think. I probably know as much about him as you do." She turns to Simon. "Isn't that right, bro?"

Simon thrusts his fist into the air and we both laugh, our eyes meeting over his head. "I never thought you were an expert. You're just more natural with kids than I am."

Casey stares at me in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? This from the guy who practically raised Marti? Who was always showing me up when we co-babysat? Who melts in the presence of anyone under three feet tall?"

I blink at her, now the one who's disbelieving. I had no idea she feels this way.

"Der." She puts a hand over mine on the table. I'm vaguely aware of Simon looking at us, probably wondering why he isn't getting fed anymore. "You're amazing with kids. You always have been. When I see you with Simon, I—"

I skid my chair back as she gets choked up. "No, no, no, no, Casey, don't do that." After all this time, I still can't handle it when she cries.

She's looking at me with this overly sentimental expression, but before either of us can say anything, Simon lets out a wail. Casey jumps, looking guilty, as she brings the bottle back up to his mouth. He grabs at it with his hands, and quickly resumes drinking, with Casey's help.

She looks over at me, and I scoot my chair back up to the table. "I love you, you know," she says, no longer about to cry.

I let out a half-groan, half-sigh. "I love you, too. But you have to stop going to pieces when you talk about me and babies. It freaks me out."

She smiles. "I know. I'll try not to, but no promises."

"It is kinda fun, though, isn't it? Thinking of having our own kids?"

She nods. "It really is." Simon chooses this moment to push the bottle away and proceed to spit up everything he just drank. He starts wailing again. "And then this kind of stuff happens," Casey says wryly, shaking her head as she starts to clean him up. Luckily, it's mostly on his bib and down the front of his onesie, so she strips both off of him and hands him to me. I bounce him up and down gently, and, not sure what to say, I murmur some hockey stats to him until he calms down.

By the time he's quiet again, Casey's back in the room with a clean onesie and new bib. "I think maybe he drank too fast. Let's try feeding him on the couch, and this time I'll pay closer attention to him." That guilty look crosses her face again.

"Hey, it's okay. We're still new at this. You forgive us, right, Si?" I ask him.

He looks up at me with wide eyes, and I take that as a yes. "I'll finish feeding him." I grab the bottle and sit down with him on the couch. Casey curls up next to me. He grabs at the bottle again, and I guide it to his mouth, watching him drink more slowly this time.

"He's pretty smart," Caseys says, watching him.

"Well, yeah." I lean over to kiss her. "He's a Venturi, after all."

She kisses me again, and then the top of Simon's head. "Yeah. He takes after _Edwin_."

"Hey!" I protest, and we settle back against the couch, her arms around me and my arms around Simon. All in all, not a bad way to spend a Sunday night.


	7. East of Eden

This chapter is the reason I wanted to write this fic. There is one person whose reaction I really wanted to write, and this is it. I'm happy with how this turned out, and I hope you like it, too! Just a warning—this chapter stretches the T rating just a bit. It's not graphic enough to warrant an M, but … stuff happens.

**Chapter 7, Casey: East of Eden **

It's July already. Forty-seven days of summer left, and I can't believe it's going by so quickly. It's pretty great, though. Day Camp is going better than I ever could have dreamed, Derek and I survived babysitting Simon, and we get to spend time with all of our favorite people, each other included.

I've started hanging out at Smelly Nelly's once or twice a week while Derek's working, like I used to do back in high school. I bring plenty to keep me busy—I'm getting started on next semester's coursework, and Derek laughs at me, but he knows I need to. It keeps me sane. I still have no idea what I want to do when I graduate, but Derek thinks it should be something academic, because, and I quote, "You drool over long division." Not exactly true, but I know what he means.

Besides, sometimes Lizzie comes with me and flirts with Ricky. It's so cute, their blossoming courtship. I keep telling her to ask him out, but on this point, she gets really shy. Before the summer's over I'm determined to get them out on a date, even if we have to double, an idea that horrifies Derek. But hey, sisters have to stick together.

Tonight, it's just Ricky and Derek working, but Lizzie had a special soccer practice she couldn't miss. So I'm hanging out, reading about the Franco-Prussian War, and enjoying people-watching. Since the dinner rush died down there haven't been too many customers, but I'm watching what look like current Thompson High girls giggling madly over some magazine article they're reading. The blonde one keeps glancing up at Ricky, and I clench my teeth, steeling myself against getting protective. He's not Lizzie's boyfriend … _yet_.

Speaking of Ricky, he's headed my way with my tea. "Here you go," Ricky says nervously as he sets down my cup and saucer.

"Where's Derek?"

"On his break." Ricky still looks nervous, and I can't figure out why.

"Oh." I smile at him, knowing Derek will be out of the kitchen any minute to sit with me. He only takes about five minutes to inhale his dinner, but at least I get to talk to him while he does it.

"So, uh …" Ricky rubs his hands together, stalling for time. I decide there can only be one reason he's here talking to me like this.

"Lizzie's at soccer practice."

"Cool. Cool." He shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his heels.

Boy, this kid just isn't going to make the first move, is he?

"Are you dating anybody right now?" I ask him pointedly, and Ricky straightens up.

"N-no."

"Lizzie's single, too. You should ask her out sometime."

Ricky's staring at me with a mixture of apprehension and relief, and I can't help giggling at him.

He lets out a shaky laugh, too. "Thanks for the tip, Casey. Maybe I will."

I arch an eyebrow at him. "Maybe?"

He blushes. "Okay, um, yeah. Can you give me her number?"

I approve of this—at least he's finally going to make a move. He hands me his phone and I punch Lizzie's number into it. There. My sisterly duty is done.

Ricky saunters away, looking pretty proud of himself. I shake my head. He's so sweet. I hope this works out!

I realize it's strange that Derek isn't here yet, so I crane my neck to look out at the front of the restaurant. If only I hadn't chosen the back booth tonight.

What I see makes my blood run cold. Sally is at the counter, picking up some sort of dessert tray, and Derek is standing in front of her. Even though I can only see his back, I know how tense he is.

I'm still frozen in place. I'm not sure if I should go up to him, or let him talk to her alone. We weren't expecting her to be here this summer. She didn't come home from Vancouver last summer, and Emily had gotten zero intel on her.

Then, I see it. The subtlest flick of Derek's wrist, pulled behind his back and definitely beckoning me to come over.

My heart pounding, I close my textbook, grab my purse, and race up to the front of the restaurant. I start to hear their conversation.

"Yeah, it's really great," Sally's saying. "You'd love the snowboarding out there. And my school is ranked first—"

I don't get to hear what her school is ranked first in because she stops talking as soon as she sees me.

"Hey, Sally." I wrap my arm around Derek and I can feel his whole body sigh with relief as he puts his arm around my shoulders.

Sally's greeting smile instantly falls off her face, and I'm not sure how to read the situation. I can't tell if Derek's told her about us or not, and whether he wants to tell her. But then again, if she's here for the summer, she might run into us again. So why hide?

It's only been a couple of seconds, and before I can think about it too much I'm pressing a kiss to Derek's cheek and saying, "Hi, Honey."

We're not big on pet names. It's usually just "Case" and "Der." But I wanted to get the message across completely.

Sally gets it, and it's obviously the first time she's hearing about it. She gapes at us. "You two are …"

"Sally, meet my girlfriend," Derek says, tensing up again, but his voice remains calm. I wrap my arm tighter around him and I can still feel how fast his heart is beating. He's really freaked out by seeing her, and there's nothing I can do to calm him down. At least he's not letting Sally see how he feels.

"Are you kidding me?" It's all she says, but it sounds pretty harsh. I try not to flinch.

"It's true. Nice to see you again, Sally," I say.

Her eyes are boring into mine, searching for some hint of levity. I stare back, smiling slightly but obviously serious. She's taking this a lot worse than I would have thought, but then again, she was actually with Derek longer than I've been so far. Maybe she does have a right to be angry. Is she still in love with him? I try to read it on her face but all I see is a stony mask.

She brushes off any attempt at politeness on my part. "This is some kind of sick joke, right?" I can tell she knows it's not, but she says it anyway.

Derek shifts us even closer together. "What's sick about it?" he challenges, and I can tell right away it's a bad idea to goad her.

Sally backs up a pace. "You're stepsiblings."

"Ah, you see that? She _does_ get it," Derek says, turning to me but keeping his eyes on Sally. "_Step_."

Sally still looks horrified. "You told me so many awful things about her. You hate her."

Derek glances at me guiltily, and though I do wonder what these "awful things" are, this is not the time to focus on that. More than likely, it was the kinds of things I told Max and Truman about Derek, so I'm not one to talk.

"Never said I hated her," Derek replies nonchalantly.

"I can't even …" she trails off, still frowning. "I would have thought you guys would be smarter than this."

"Smarter than what?" Now I'm genuinely confused. Sally was never this mean in high school.

"It's just wrong." She's looking at us with a disgusted expression. It's sickening for me to watch Sally's pretty face contort like that.

Derek's shaking ever so slightly, and I keep a firm grip on his middle. At this point I really don't think he's beyond slugging Sally in the face.

"Sally, I thought we were all friends. We haven't seen you in two years, and _this_ is what we're going to talk about?" I'm proud of myself for getting that out, but boy am I terrified of her reaction.

Her eyes narrow. "Fine. You're right. Let's talk about something else. Like apparently all this time I thought you guys hated each other and it turns out it was all an act that stupid me fell for."

"What? No," I gasp, and Derek protests as well.

"Did you guys wait to hook up until after I left or was this going on all along?"

"Sally!" Derek's nostrils flare and he takes a step forward, forcing me to step forward with him since we're still intertwined. Sally doesn't back up, and she looks just as angry. "Are you completely insane? Casey and I only became friends while I was with you. We didn't start dating until we left for university."

"Makes sense. So you'd be out of the house." She shifts her dessert tray onto her hip, eyes flashing. "Tell me, Derek, did you think of her every time you were with me?"

I prepare myself for Derek to blow up, but to my surprise, he doesn't. I'm feeling stung, so I can't even imagine how he feels. Then, he opens his mouth, and I know he's going to let her have it. I'm glad.

"Yes, okay? Is that what you want to hear? You meant nothing to me. You never did, and I was using you the entire time we were together. Happy?" he snarls.

Now, I happen to know that this is not true at all. He may have had feelings for me at the time, but he really cared about Sally, and was devastated when she left. It does give me a little jolt of satisfaction that Derek says it, though. He's completely over her, and too bad for Sally, but it doesn't seem like she's over him.

Sally's face turns blotchy and red, and she backs away. "Fine. Whatever. I never loved you either. Have a nice life." She backs up until she hits the door, eyes locked on Derek. She finally scurries out of it, and it's not until we hear the squeal of tires that Derek lets out the breath he's been holding.

He wrenches my hand from his back and grabs my wrist, leading me through the restaurant and out the back door. He's not hurting me or anything, just determined to get away. I keep my mouth shut, knowing this is what he needs. I'm just happy he's taking me with him. It means he won't shut me out.

We reach the back door and Derek pushes it open, letting it close behind us with a bang. I lean against the wall near the door, watching Derek breathe deeply. His eyes are closed.

"Hey," I say softly, reaching out for him. He's gotten much better about sharing his feelings, but I know he doesn't have words for this right now. I'm not going to force him to talk, so I wrap my arms around his shoulders and squeeze tightly. He's still breathing heavily, and as we hug he walks us into the wall so my back is against it and he has me pinned. He kisses me ferociously, and it's a little rough but I go with it. I can feel what he's trying to say, that he needs to not think for a few minutes.

Soon I've got my legs wrapped around him and I know it's a bad idea, but things are heating up. He breaks our kiss and pulls his head back, and I let out an involuntary whimper at the loss of contact. I can feel him pressing into me and I know we need the same thing right now.

His eyes are asking, dark and hooded, and I capture his lips again in answer.

I know this is a bad idea. I know we're outside, where anyone can see us. But I _need_ this. _So badly_. It's been too long and I don't want to wait another forty-seven days.

He breaks our contact again to unbutton my jeans and rip them down my legs. With his help, I kick them off completely over my shoes. I fumble with his jeans as he stands back up, and he puts his hands under my legs to lift me up. I shudder as he buries his head in my chest. I want him to take my shirt off, but I'm still aware of the fact that we're outside, and besides, I don't want to take the time.

He pulls his jeans down slightly and I put out a hand to stop him before he goes any further. "Condom?" I breathe, and his eyes widen. He doesn't have one. We used up the one in his wallet the day we left Kingston.

I almost cry out in frustration but then I remember I dropped my purse at the door as soon as we came outside. He sets me down gently, and my legs feel rubbery as I try to remain standing, riding the wave of desire coursing through me. He fishes a condom out of my purse, and I sigh into his neck as he puts us back into position, this time more than ready.

I bite my lip to keep from moaning as he rips my underwear aside with his fingers and then slides into me. I arch up the wall, trying to find the best angle. When I find it I grab onto him, holding his shoulders tightly as he supports me with his hands hooked under my legs. We slam against the wall, over and over, and I can feel my back scraping against the concrete. It's not enough to break the skin, though, and it feels kind of good. But I can tell Derek's worried about it, so he lets up a little. I grab onto his hair and knead my fingers though it, urging him to keep going. He does.

When we're finished, I close my eyes and concentrate on coming back down from the high. He puts me down, both of us trembling a little from the intensity. It's never been this frenzied before. We hug for a moment, our breath slowing together. Neither of us has spoken since I asked about the condom, which is a little unnerving, but as I search for something to say, nothing seems appropriate. So I stay quiet.

I try not to think too much about what just happened, which for me is of course pretty difficult. I'm not sure why we let ourselves get so carried away, aside from the fact that before today, we hadn't had sex in two months. Was he trying to prove to me that Sally couldn't get to him? I'll bet he knows I can see right through that. And he couldn't have been trying to prove that he loves me more than he loved Sally, because I already know that. I slide my ruined underwear down my legs and slip my jeans back on. Is this some new thing, where anger turns him on? Our play-fighting always does, but this is different. I'm not sure I like it.

Derek motions for me to give him my underwear, and he wraps the condom in them and tosses them in a nearby dumpster. I watch him zip his own pants back up, trying to read his body language. He seems stiff, guarded. We're definitely not going to be talking about this right now; that much I know.

"Look, uh," he runs his hands through his hair and gives me a small smile. "I need to get back to work."

I nod. "I'm gonna go. Can you pay for my tea? Oh, and can you get my textbook from my booth and keep it in the back? I'll get it from you when I pick you up tonight."

"Uh-huh."

I hate to run off, but I just can't walk through that restaurant right now. What if someone heard us? What if they can tell just by looking at me? Besides, we'd made a big scene with Sally. I'm not in the mood to face any stares.

Derek clears his throat. "Actually, I'll get a ride home with Ricky. You don't have to pick me up."

My face falls but I try not to get upset. He _really_ wants to postpone talking about this. "Sure, okay. See you at home." I walk around the side of the building, berating myself for not even telling him I love him. But he hasn't said it, either.

I manage to get through some board games with Marti and Edwin before bed, but as soon as Derek's shift ends I hop in the shower and then lie in bed waiting for him. We'd better talk about this before we go to sleep.

Apparently my body has other ideas, because the next thing I know, Derek is crawling into bed beside me.

"Shh, go back to sleep," he says as I start to sit up.

"No, Derek." I eye him pointedly and he turns on the light next to his side of the bed.

"Okay, okay." He burrows under the covers, enveloping me with his warm arms and laying his head on my pillow next to me. "I'm sorry about today."

"Sorry?" I ask, not sure what he's apologizing for.

"I shouldn't have made you do that."

"Are you talking about what happened outside? Because you really don't need to be sorry for _that_."

Derek's eyebrows raise. "Really? You _did_ seem into it, but it felt … I don't know, like I was taking advantage of you. I was upset, and I didn't know what to do. All I wanted was to be with you."

It's difficult for me to let him talk, but he's not this candid very often, so I have to bite my tongue.

"It was … I think I was getting revenge on her. I used you to take out my anger on her. It seemed like my only option at the time."

"Mm," I murmur in understanding, but he takes it as a protest.

"I know you're going to say it wasn't all me, but I'm telling you that's what it was about. And I'm sorry."

He caresses my back, and when he lifts up my nightshirt to run his hands along my spine and the back of my shoulders, I can tell he's checking for scrapes.

"I'm fine, Sweetie. Really." I know I said we don't do pet names, but he's just so _cute_ when he looks at me like a little lost puppy.

He doesn't say anything more, so I figure it's my turn again. "Look, Der, I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy myself, because you know I did. And I would definitely be on board with that kind of stress relief any time, _if_ you're thinking clearly. But I want to know how you feel about what led up to it. You were really losing it talking to Sally, and I need you to let me in." I put my own arms to his chest, tracing patterns into his T-shirt and feeling his heart beating at its normal speed. "Please."

Derek sighs. "I needed you to come up to the counter. I feel safe with you, and I knew that if you were there I would be able to handle talking to her. Because when she came in, I was so stunned I didn't know what to say."

"It looked like you were talking just fine when I came up next to you."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Not really. She came up to the counter to pick up the dessert tray, and I was about to go on break but figured I'd help one last person. And when I saw it was her, I panicked. She stood there and started talking about how amazing Vancouver is, how much I'd like it there. It felt like she was saying how much better she was than me, because I'm back in London all summer and she's just here visiting for a few weeks."

"Maybe she was as nervous as you were." It's not right justifying her behavior, but I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"She was. She definitely was. But the first thing she said wasn't 'nice to see you,' or 'how've you been,' it was 'you _still_ work here?'. And she sounded so arrogant when she said it. She's really changed since she left."

I make a face. "Wow."

"That's when I knew I needed you. If you were next to me, I'd be okay." He gives me a thin smile and I lean forward to kiss him.

"I love you," I say, kissing him again. When we pull back, he looks content, and then I feel better. At least he's not upset anymore.

"When you told her we were together, and she turned into this …" he pauses, searching for the word.

"Demon spawn?" I suggest, and he laughs.

"Well, yeah. I was so shocked. I really needed her to be someone who was okay with us being together, and she wasn't, and yeah, that really hurt."

I search his eyes, but he still looks pretty relaxed, considering. "You know we've been lucky. Not everyone is going to react like Emily and our other friends."

"I know. But this is Sally. I thought she cared about me enough not to judge us like that. And she would _defend_ you when I complained about you."

"I thought you said after Amy you stopped badmouthing me to your girlfriends." I say it with a smile so he knows I'm just teasing.

"Um." He smirks at me. "I didn't talk about you as _much_."

It's my turn to roll my eyes.

He looks at me seriously. "You've always been such a big part of my life, it would have been weird if I didn't talk about you. And I thought Sally understood that. Do you really think she feels that way, that what we had was all a lie?"

I think about it. Sally is such a sweet person; I never would have pictured her being cruel like she was to us today. "No, I don't. I think she still has feelings for you, and seeing us together, when she was so sure I was never a threat to her, shook her confidence. That's all."

Derek considers this. "I never thought about it that way."

"Feel better?" I ask, though I already know the answer.

He nods and pulls me closer, and we drift off to sleep together.


	8. Catch 22

While I honestly don't think Sally would react well to Derek and Casey dating, I couldn't leave it like that. So Sally redeems herself in this chapter. A little. She's still kind of a you-know-what.

Now, the character in _this_ chapter is _definitely_ a you-know-what. And there is no redeeming her, because the writers didn't bother to, either, even after two episodes. I'm so excited about this chapter, because I feel like Casey _finally_ gets to have a little justice!

Hope you like it!

**Chapter 8, Derek: Catch-22**

The Saturday after the Sally fiasco, she calls me. I'm shocked she still has my number. I'm with Casey that morning, lying in the hammock and watching Marti and Dimi run around the backyard.

"Do I answer?" I ask Casey, definitely not wanting to.

Casey shakes her head, which surprises me. "I want to know what she has to say first before either of us talk to her."

We let the call go to voicemail, and as soon as it's finished we listen to the message. Casey snuggles closer to me on the hammock and grabs my hand. I can tell she's as nervous as I am.

"Hi Derek. It's Sally. I wanted to say I'm sorry for how I acted the other night. I shouldn't have been so rude, and while I don't think you and Casey dating is … What I mean is, I don't approve—but, well, I gave up my right to have an opinion about your life a long time ago and it wasn't fair of me to judge you both like that. I really do wish you both the best of luck. Um, okay, bye."

I play it again just to listen to her tone. She sounds sincere. "I don't want to call her back. I feel like that's the end of it."

Casey agrees. "It was nice of her to apologize, but we agreed anyone who doesn't support us shouldn't be in our life."

I nod. "You're right."

"_What_?" She grins.

"You're right. You're right. You're right. There. I said it three times." I stick my tongue out at her.

She's still grinning. She just can't get enough of me saying she's right about something after denying her for so many years. Have I mentioned she looks really cute when she thinks she's one-upping me?

"Casey! Derek!" Dad calls from the doorway. He's already rounded up Marti and Dimi and is motioning to us to come inside. We're going to Toronto for the day to visit Icky Vicky, and Casey and I would much rather stay home, but our parents aren't letting us get out of it, even though Lizzie, Edwin, and Marti are spending the day at Mom's.

Casey and I drive Liz and Edwin in the Prince, and Lizzie and Casey dominate the conversation with talk of Lizzie's first date with Ricky the night before. I try to tune them out, and I can tell Edwin's doing the same. Finally, I pull over and practically push Casey into the backseat. She and Lizzie are still talking as Edwin climbs past her and into the passenger seat next to me. We exchange exasperated smiles. I'm glad to hear they hit it off, I really am, but do I need to know every detail of their conversation, where he put his hands on the table, and what he smelled like?

No.

Both cars pull up in front of Mom's townhouse and she's already standing on the porch. Marti barrels up the front walk before anyone else is even out of the car.

We all gather on the porch, and Marti's hugging Mom around the waist. Casey and I exchange a smile. Marti's adjusted very well to being a big sister, but when she's at Mom's she's the baby again, and she tends to lap up the attention pretty shamelessly. Lizzie's spent less time with Mom, but from their hug you'd never be able to tell they weren't family.

I let her wrap me in a hug and I even kiss her cheek, feeling generous. She hugs Casey, too, and though she treats Casey very well and has never said a bad word about her, there's the slightest bit of tension. Mom's reaction when we told her we were dating went something along the lines of, "I just want you to be happy, and if she makes you happy, so be it." Which isn't exactly disapproval, but still, I can tell she's not thrilled.

Casey keeps saying it's because they never spend any time getting to know each other, and she might have a point, but Mom has visited us exactly once, so why should _we_ make the effort to visit _her_?

I'll admit, I might still be the slightest bit resentful of my mom. Our relationship is fine now, and I love her, but the truth is there was a long period after the divorce when she _wasn't_ around, and even though she's made a better effort these past few years, she's still not around much. Casey listens patiently when I complain about her, and she thinks I'm justified in feeling this way, but she can't really relate. Dennis may be a workaholic, but he's always been there for Casey and Lizzie. He calls and emails regularly, even though he doesn't see them as often as he'd like. I can count on one hand the number of times Abby's called me in the past year.

Casey sees me stewing about all of this and links her arm through mine as we head into the house. "The more time we spend here, the less time we have with Icky Vicky," she whispers, and I squeeze her hand.

We chat with Mom for a little while. She exclaims over how big Simon's getting, and to her credit, she seems totally okay with holding her ex-husband's new baby. She smiles at me across the living room and starts waxing nostalgic about when I was little.

"Mom!" I whine.

"Sorry, sorry. I can't help it. Marti's gotten so tall, and Edwin's in high school, and you're …" she trails off, eyes drifting to Casey. Casey holds her gaze, and I'm proud of her for staying calm. My mother doesn't scare her.

"… an adult," she finishes, smiling at me again. Her eyes well up and I smash myself into the back of the couch, angling Casey in front of me. This is apparently the furthest away from the crying I'm going to get.

"Simon likes you," Nora pipes up, saving the day. My mom turns her attention to Nora, and they start talking about baby stuff.

I give Casey a little breathing room, and she grabs my hand and plants a quick kiss on it.

We endure a few more minutes of small talk, and as we're leaving, Mom promises to come see one of my hockey games this fall. It's a nice gesture, but I'll believe it when I see it.

We leave the Prince at Mom's and join our parents in the family car for the drive to Vicky's. Casey gets more fidgety the closer we get to her house, and I know it's my turn to reassure her. After all, this visit will be a hundred times more uncomfortable than the one at my Mom's. "I love you, you know," I whisper, and she kisses me quickly before our parents can catch us in the rear-view mirror.

"My favorite cousins!" Vicky says in a loud, too-enthusiastic voice as she throws open the door.

"Hi, Victoria," Casey says fake-brightly, accepting Vicky's hug.

"S'up?" I nod to Vicky, and she looks like she wants to lean in to hug me, but thinks better of it.

Vicky's focus shifts to our parents, who are standing behind us. "Aunt Nora! Uncle George! And oh my gosh, how cute is this baby?"

We dart past her into the house and say hello to Fiona and Harry.

"I always thought you were such a nice boy," Fiona remarks. "I'm so happy Casey finally found someone worthy of her."

"Um, thanks?" I say, wearing a thin smile. Fiona's so weird.

Harry just sort of coughs in agreement, and Casey hugs her aunt, trying to remain upbeat. "Thanks so much, Aunt Fiona. It means a lot that _you_ approve." I can tell she's dying to hear Vicky's reaction, and frankly, so am I.

Victoria's holding Simon, cooing baby talk at him as he fists strands of her hair. "I think it's great, too," she pipes up, and Casey stares at her.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I knew something was up between you at that party last year. Derek was never that nice to you before."

"I was being nice to her because her boyfriend was a slimeball," I say.

Vicky fixes her gaze on me, and I can tell she's warning me not to go into detail. She obviously hasn't shared what happened that night with her parents. I wonder what reason she gave Fiona for why she and Casey haven't spoken in over a year.

"Let's go catch up." Vicky gestures up the stairs. "I want to hear all about Queen's." Her voice is dripping with fake sincerity, and it's amazing to me that the adults don't call her on it. But then again, Vicky's mom has never been great at the whole paying-attention-to-her-daughter thing, which is where Vicky gets a lot of her issues.

Vicky hands Simon to Nora and we follow her to her bedroom. She settles into her desk chair, leaving us to find a comfortable spot on her bed. "So."

She looks at us expectantly, and I exchange a puzzled look with Casey.

"So …" Casey repeats.

"You _guys_!" Vicky bounces a little in her chair. "Tell me everything. Did you hook up in the car after you dropped me off? Was Truman just a cover?"

Casey glares at her. "You're seriously going to pretend like everything's fine between us? I haven't forgotten what you did that night."

Vicky looks stung. "Casey, I … I thought we were okay. I said I was sorry."

Vicky _sounds_ sorry, but she's trying _way_ too hard. I want to wipe that pout right off her face.

Casey sighs. "Oh, Victoria. You know I can never stay mad at you. But at the time, I really did care about Truman, and what you did hurt me."

I'm dying to put an arm around her, but at this point I don't think touching her in front of Vicky is a good idea. The girl's a little unstable.

Vicky looks at the floor, her chair squeaking as she spins it from side to side. "I'm sorry."

"I forgive you. After all, in a way it helped me."

Vicky looks up. "How?"

"It made me see what a horrible person Truman was, and made it that much easier to fall for Derek." She looks over at me gratefully. I figure it's safe to at least hold her hand.

"So you _did_ hook up that night!" Vicky squeaks happily.

"No!" Casey pauses. "It happened later, at university."

"You naughty kids," she teases, and I manage a weak smile. She doesn't deserve to hear our story, and I hope she drops this conversation quickly.

Who am I kidding?

"Hey cuz," she turns to Casey, evil glint in her eyes. "Isn't Derek a _fabulous_ kisser?"

I can't believe I ever thought this girl was hot. Okay, I can, because she's practically identical to Casey. But her personality leaves a lot to be desired. "Bitch," I bite out, and Casey grips my hand tightly.

Vicky eyes me lazily and smirks, twirling her hair around her finger. I wish Simon had spit up in it.

"As a matter of fact, he is," Casey speaks up. "And he's even better in bed. Too bad you two didn't make it that far, but Derek doesn't fuck needy sluts."

I swallow a gasp, but Vicky lets hers out. I've never heard Casey talk like that before. It's kinda hot.

Vicky stands up, trying to look menacing by towering over us on the bed. "What is _wrong_ with you?" she asks, genuinely sounding concerned. I realize at this point that it's definitely all an act. Vicky will never change.

"I'm going to go downstairs and catch up with dear old Uncle Harry and Aunt Fiona. Want to join me, Case?" I pull both of us up so we're standing in front of Vicky, and I watch Vicky's lip quiver slightly as Casey wraps an arm around me and follows me downstairs.

We manage to get through strained appetizers where we focus on talking to our aunt and uncle, and dinner is civil, but then Aunt Fiona has the brilliant idea of putting us on dish duty. I see Nora and George look at each other in alarm. If even _they_ can sense the tension, that's a bad sign.

It comes down to a standoff in the kitchen, Casey and me by the sink, holding the plates we carried in, and Vicky across from us, holding a sponge. "I'll wash, you dry, Derek can stack," she suggests icily, and we shrug in unison.

After a few moments of silent work, Vicky clears her throat. "You know, I really am happy for you guys. I was so shocked when Derek stood up for you at that party, Case. And I thought I saw something between you. But I never expected you to actually get together, and I'm glad you did."

Casey and I stay quiet. Mostly to make her squirm, and partly because I think we're both unsure whether to believe her.

"I might keep doing things to get in the way of it, but all I really want is for us to get along," she says to Casey. "And Derek," she turns to me, and I refuse to make eye contact, "I don't know you that well, but what I do know about you is that you're a true gentleman, and Casey's lucky to have you."

She starts crying, and cruel as it seems to leave her hanging, I can't bring myself to acknowledge her. Between the fiasco with Sally and this, I can't take any more crazy girls. I just can't.

Casey is a much more compassionate person than I am, of course. She sets down the plate she's holding and goes over to hug Vicky. Vicky's shoulders are shaking from crying and Casey hugs her tight.

"You're my cousin and I care about you. I'm sorry about what I said. But you like to push my buttons, and it gets old after awhile, you know?" She gives me a sidelong glance and I wink at her. (We've finally figured out that button pushing is stupid when you can make out instead.)

Vicky wipes her tears. "I'll be better, I promise." She looks at me. "I promise."

I shrug. Casey makes a face at me, and I know she wants me to try a little harder. I give Vicky a light hug, barely touching her, but it seems to mean a lot to Vicky.

"I really appreciate the second chance."

I want to correct her; this is probably her forth or fifth chance—but for Casey's sake I keep my mouth shut.

"How do you like university?" Casey asks, and Vicky startles at the abrupt change in topics.

"It's wonderful," she gushes, wiping away the rest of her tears. She's still over-enthusiastic, but it's less grating this time. "U of T has the _best_ parties."

Casey smiles carefully at me, and I know we're both thinking that Vicky's still Icky, but at least she's not being rude and vindictive … right now. "Tell me more," Casey says generously, and as Vicky starts talking about life in Tdot, I try my best to pay attention. The rest of our visit really isn't the highlight of our summer, but at least Victoria is starting to understand that crossing Casey is never a good idea.


	9. The World According to Casey

This fic is winding down; there is one chapter left after this one. I hope this fic satisfied your Dasey craving like it did for me! I miss this fandom but it's nice to know that there are plenty of us still around to enjoy these characters.

**Chapter 9, Casey: The World According to Casey **

The summer's almost over. We stopped counting how many days we had left after the incident at Smelly Nelly's—it ruined our streak, not that either of us mind the fact that we didn't have to go the whole ninety-one days. And in a way, I'm glad we stopped counting. It will be nice to get back to our apartment and be alone, but I'm also enjoying our family time, and I know Derek is, too. We'll be leaving for the Blue Heron Lodge in a couple of days, and then going back to Queen's.

Our friends are having one last party at Emily's house tonight. She calls a few hours before and asks if we mind that she invited Noel.

"Noel's in town?" I ask, surprised. We both messaged him at the beginning of the summer to see when he'd be home, but he told us he'd decided to stay at school for all of the summer class sessions.

"Just for the next few weeks. I guess he realized he needed a break from all that studying. You'll have to explain to him that you can bring textbooks home and get just as good of an education." She's teasing me for all the studying I did this summer, but it never, not once, interfered with our plans. I do have _some_ self-control.

"Very funny. Did you tell him about Derek and me?"

"You didn't even come up, my dear. I ran into him buying the snacks for tonight and when I told him he should drop by the party, I explained about how we're going to videochat with _my_ boyfriend, Sheldon. He had to leave then, but he'll come over at some point tonight, I'm sure."

I bite my lip. Emily's gotten a lot better about calling me out on my one-track mind. She claims it's okay that I think the world revolves around Derek and me as long as we remember that other people exist, too. "Sorry, Em."

"No worries. Just show up hoping Noel's over you, because now you have yet another person to break the 'bad' news to."

"See you tonight." I hang up with Em and let out a groan. It _does_ seem like we're running into an awful lot of exes. Maybe it's just that between the two of us we _have_ a lot of exes. I try not to think too much about it.

Sam, Ralph, Kendra, Emily, Derek, and I crowd around Emily's laptop screen to talk to Sheldon, which she's placed as far away from the pool as possible. We talk for awhile, but sign off when everyone agrees it's too hot to be anywhere but in the pool. Noel shows up when we're back on the patio taking a snack break, and I steel myself for yet another crazy reaction about us. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

We all say hello and he makes the rounds of handshakes, fist bumps, and hugs. When he gets to me, I blurt out, "Noel, I'm dating Derek." I kick myself for being so tactless, but Noel just shrugs and smiles at me.

"That's cool."

I guess I forgot that Noel is probably the most laid-back person on the planet.

"Cool?" Kendra yelps. "How can that possibly be your only reaction? Did you see this coming?"

Noel shrugs again. "No, but everyone knows how much they care about each other. It either turns into love or it doesn't."

"You don't think it's weird that they're stepsiblings?" Sam asks, and I know he's not doing it to be mean, just to test Noel.

"Nah. Why, should I?"

He passes the test.

"Oh, Noel. Please," Kendra scoffs. "You're a _little_ shocked, admit it."

The rest of us snicker behind our hands. Kendra's just embarrassed that Noel's handling this a lot better than she did.

Noel looks at Derek, then me. "A little." A smile plays at the corner of his lips.

"For agreeing with Kendra, you get tossed in!" Ralph cries, and the guys band together to drag a still-clothed Noel into the pool.

I shield myself from their splashing with my towel, and Kendra and Emily burst into giggles when Noel flings his drenched shirt out of the pool and it lands on my head. "Hey!" I cry, and Kendra and Emily laugh harder when Noel, beet red, climbs out of the pool to retrieve it.

"Oops. Sorry, Casey."

I smile at him, pushing my hair out of my eyes. "It's Ralph's fault for throwing you in the pool."

"True." Noel spies a Super Soaker leaning against one of the deck chairs. "And for that, he must pay!" Noel launches himself back into the pool, holding the water gun.

Emily watches the guys goofing off. "Guess he really is over you, huh, Case?"

I nod. "I'm so relieved."

Kendra looks at us strangely. "Ladies, he hasn't had a crush on Casey since she broke his heart on that stupid 'friends only' double date."

I wrinkle my nose. "I did not! And how do you know? I always thought he still sort of carried a torch—"

Kendra barks out a laugh. "Don't be so dramatic, Casey, jeez. He started dating Swynn that summer and was with her all of grade twelve."

Emily looks at me blankly. "Did you know that? I didn't."

Kendra sniffs. "He was never on your Dr. Em radar."

"Oh, and what—he was on yours?" I ask.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Swynn is one of my best friends. _Duh_." Kendra flips her hair and shakes her head at us. "I do hang out with other people besides you losers, okay?" she smirks.

As a matter of fact, I did kind of wonder why Kendra and Noel weren't around much in grade twelve. Guess they were with Swynn. Makes sense now. "Sorry Ken, I didn't know."

Emily nods in agreement.

"It's fine. I'm not mad or anything. I think it's kinda funny, actually. I mean, Casey, _really_? You thought he might still _like_ you?"

I chuckle. "Yeah, Emily tells me that I have a problem with thinking the world revolves around me."

"Oh, honey, it _does_," Kendra says, picking at fingernail and then looking up to give me an impish grin. Emily cracks up.

I'm really going to miss these girls.


	10. On the Road

This is the last chapter. The _Hockey Girls_ saga is complete … until inspiration strikes again. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, alerted, and favorited. Virtual hugs all around!

Until next time,

Brandi

**Chapter 10, Derek: On the Road**

"I'm going to miss you so much," he coos as she slips her hands around his waist.

"Me, too," she answers as he holds her face in his hands.

"Think I'm gonna hurl," I growl as Casey and I stand in the street watching Lizzie and Ricky's disgusting display of affection.

Casey smacks my head lightly and rolls her eyes. "Like you're not capable of even more atrocious displays of affection."

"You find my affections atrocious? That's a bad thing, right?"

Casey tears her eyes away from her sister and gives me one of those looks. You know the one. Where I'm an idiot and I better shut up before I ruin the moment.

She throws another suitcase into the trunk of the Prince, and I'm resigned to help her. We're packing everything for this trip to see Gran; we're leaving right from the Blue Heron for Kingston. I look up at the house, and feel the slightest pang of homesickness already. It's the last time Casey and I will be here until winter break. Our schedules are too hectic in the fall to even think about coming for a visit.

"Good summer, huh, Case?" I ask, heaving the last suitcase into the trunk.

"Amazing summer." She looks up at me and smiles. "But I'm happy to be heading home soon." She gives me another type of look, this one saying how much she can't wait to jump me as soon as our Queen's apartment door swings shut. Maybe before.

I freaking love her, have I mentioned that lately?

"Hey lovebirds, time to go," Dad calls to Lizzie and Ricky, and they reluctantly break apart. Lizzie climbs into the backseat of the Prince with Casey.

Ed climbs into the passenger seat next to me, and we fall in line behind Dad's car. Lizzie and Ricky are still calling to each other as we turn the corner, and then, finally, he's out of sight.

I lean over to Ed. "You know you're going to have to keep an eye on those two while I'm gone."

Edwin nods seriously. "I'm on it, bro."

"Oh, leave her alone," Casey sighs.

Lizzie reaches up to the front of the car and punches Edwin's arm. Edwin yelps, even though I can tell it doesn't actually hurt. "Don't worry, Casey. I can handle my spying weasel of a stepbrother," she snickers.

Edwin sticks his tongue out at her. I get a weird feeling watching them interact. They're acting sort of like … us. But they're totally different from Casey and me. For one thing, Lizzie and Ed have been best friends since the day we moved in together, and, well, you know things were a little different with Casey, even though they worked out for the best. Maybe Lizzie and Edwin just goof around a lot more now. But still. I decide to keep a close eye on them during this trip. You never know—stranger things have happened.

Suddenly I want to be sitting next to Casey. I pull over.

"Hey!" Edwin fumes as I practically shove him out the door.

"Sorry, Ed. I decided Casey deserves the privilege of sitting next to me." I turn around and smile at her, and she shakes her head at me, smiling back. Casey and Ed switch seats, and I watch carefully in the rearview mirror as Edwin slides in next to Lizzie. She immediately pulls out a set of earbuds and hands Edwin one. Sharing the set, they plug it into Lizzie's iPad and start fiddling with the screen together. I realize they've already tuned out the rest of the world.

Casey pecks me on the cheek after she's buckled her seatbelt, and it breaks my concentration on the mirror. She raises her eyebrows at me.

"There are some things we might wanna talk about when we're alone," I whisper, and she shrugs, accepting that.

Figures she wouldn't see it. I was in love with her for three-and-a-half years and I she didn't have a clue, so that tells you a little something about Casey's observation skills.

I pull back out onto the road, and Casey teases, "You better go the speed limit. If that same cop from last year catches us …"

I roll my eyes. "Then you can take the fall. He thought _you _were the crazy one, after all."

"He did not!"

I just laugh. She rests her hand on my thigh and I know she's not doing it to distract me, but suddenly I have to pay a lot closer attention to the road. "This trip is already gonna be so much better than last year."

"I know. Gran is so excited to meet Simon," she agrees.

"I meant because of us being together. No Roxy, no Jesse." I roll my eyes just saying their names.

"I knew what you meant." I sneak a glance at her and she's biting her lip. "I just didn't want to bring up a sore subject," she says.

"Which one is the sore subject?"

"Both!" she laughs.

"I love you, Casey McDonald." I can't help the grin from spreading across my face. She leans over to kiss my cheek again, and we don't hear a peep from the backseat. My eyes flicker to them in the mirror and their heads are close together, whispering about something. The sight of them fills me with hope that I'm not just imagining things.

"Against all odds, I think I'd have to agree that I love you, too, Mr. Venturi," Casey says after watching me for a moment. I can tell that now she's dying to know what I'm thinking, because she can usually tell so easily. But she'll just have to be patient (as difficult as that is).

I smirk over at her. "No one can resist the Venturi charm."

"Guess not." Her eyes flicker to the backseat and it looks like she's finally starting to get it.

We spend the rest of the ride quietly, sometimes talking, sometimes holding hands, and looking out at the scenery. We'll get to enjoy the rest of the summer with our family and then it's back to the home we've made together in Kingston. A year ago I never thought Casey would ever look at me as anything but her annoying stepbrother, let alone as boyfriend material.

And now here we are. It's been an amazing year, and I know as long as we're together, life's only going to get better.


End file.
